Marie Bellet - What I Wanted to Say
I have imagined writing this post for quite some time now, and I have found it daunting because Marie Bellet is my favorite singer. I want so much to capture the brilliance, love, sacrifice, oh, just everything that she encapsulates in her music. Mrs. Bellet is unabashedly Catholic, and yet any Christian would find almost all of her music accessible.
Why do I like her music so much? Marie has a pleasant voice, and I enjoy the variety of music styles she employs, but her lyrics tip the scales. Somehow, Marie, who is a mother to nine children, manages to catch so much of motherhood and living a Christian life in her stirring music. Both the joys and the trials are represented. Many of her songs are so poignant, they bring a tear to my eye. Often, they help me see the ways in which I am failing to follow Christ. This woman has a gift from God.
Just to whet your appetite, I'm going to do four reviews, one for each album she has released. The album I'll cover in this post is her first What I Wanted to Say. (Want to hear some clips from this album?) The first song, One Heroic Moment, focuses on Dads and the sacrifices they make for their families. "Sometimes it amazes him that a man can work so long. He didn't know till he had mouths to feed he could ever be that strong."
The fifth song, Here I Am echoes the Bible "Here I am, Lord" with lyrics like "Here I am, take all I have today. Take my hands. Take my mouth; make the words that I say. Take this cluttered heart, make it simple and sure to obey. Here I am. Take all I have today." Catholics will note that the subtitle of the song is "The Morning Offering," but one needn't be Catholic to appreciate this song.
Then there is my favorite, the last song on the album, Will You, Too, Go Away? In this brilliant, very Catholic, song, Marie sings as an older man who has left the Church. During his anger at the Church while at his daughter's wedding, he refuses to look at the Crucifix above the altar. "...The feet gnarled up in pain beneath the hammer's blow. He'd lift his eyes no further, he did not want to see. 'Why are you always suffering, suffering at me?' " The song finishes with his return to the Church. He looks up the rest of the Crucifix that he refused to see earlier. "And the crumpled eyelids closed clearing years of wasted doubts and he lifted up his heart to feel the wounds and hear the shouts. And the arms that spread to hold him, and the pain upon the face, said, 'So long I've waited for you. Please, this time won't you stay? This time won't you stay?"